Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The plan was simple. We would find, and we would kill, Smiley.

Except, whoever had decided that it was "simple" was a lunatic. Smiley couldn't be contained, and even though he had a nice, alluring bounty above his head, he posed too great of a threat to the city and Gifted. We would have to kill him, which in of itself was a tremendously hard task.

Something about the entire thing kept bugging me, though. Not the plan --- I had gotten over me possibly dying already, and was fully prepared to protect Wilbur until the end --- but the entire Smiley situation itself. We still hadn't found the associate. George and Niki said that they were technically his associates, but not the one we were looking for. I knew it was a bounty hunter. But who could it be?

Tommy, the voices hummed. He admitted to it that night. When will you tell Phil? You promised Tubbo that you'd let Phil handle it.

I continued writing on the paper before me, ignoring them. It didn't matter, not in the broad scheme of things. As long as I dealt with Smiley, Tommy would be fine. He'd be saved from a lot of trouble if Smiley wasn't running wild, making it seem like he had been forced or something to lessen the blow.

It did make me wonder, though. What did Smiley say to him to get him on his side? What had Tommy been doing for him? Probably cause ruckus for Tubbo. Or at least, that was all I hoped.

Tommy hates Gifted. It would've been easy to convince him to join his side.

But he's an innocent child!

...You're delusional.

The sound of my pencil scratching on the surface of the parchment was the only sound apart from the voices, so I focused as hard as I could on that.

I sighed in annoyance and slumped down in my chair. It was getting too dark for me to see the work in front of me, but I didn't want to get up and walk across my room to turn on a light. Philza always said that he'd buy me a desk lamp, but seeing how I was still sitting in the dark, that had clearly completely slipped from his mind.

From where it lay next to my hand, my phone buzzed. I covered my eyes partially with one hand and turned it on, squinting at the bright screen to try and decipher what I had been bugged about.

A text message from Naida popped up. "Hey, plan falls into action tomorrow. You ready?"

Everyone's worried, I thought to myself wryly. Not about me, of course. About whether or not the plan will succeed.

"No," I replied, turning down the brightness of my phone. "Do I seem like I'd ever be ready?"

"You seem like the guy who's ready for everything."

I chuckled. "Clearly, you've been fed false information."

I watched the three dots pop up and dance in the corner for a while before Naida replied. "Do you wanna go to a coffee shop with me to loosen up before your big day?"

It was a nice offer, but one that I didn't need. Coffee would only make me too hyper and possibly lose the little amount of sleep I might get that night. I'd be better off without it.

"Maybe bring Wilbur. I think he needs some comfort as well."

My fingers stalled over the surface of my phone. I didn't need coffee, but Wilbur practically lived off of the stuff. To deny an offer for free coffee would be like the end of the world for him.

Not only that, but we had argued. I disliked arguing with my brother, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it up to him. No one except for me would argue with free coffee.